Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution or the basket idea. XME belongs to Marvel and Warner Brothers and all of those people and I'm not sure if the basket idea is copyrighted or not. I do own Holly though, but she's such a sweetheart, feel free to ask to use her.


As if set in a picturesque storybook, Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm the nerves of the women of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Their moves were frenzied, running around to try to look good. When Bobby tried to remind them that this was an anonymous auction, he was met with four pairs of glaring eyes and seemed to shrink a few inches.

Though none of the younger females noticed, Ororo could see the new recruit boys conspiring towards something. But since the girls were constantly coming to her, checking on their food and their outfits, Storm didn't have a chance to question them.

After everyone was finally ready the girls set out in the Scott's car so they could bring their baskets in to be checked. Cyclops had agreed to ride with everyone else in the X-van. When they arrived at the park, Holly waved them over with a huge smile on her face. "Look at this turnout!" The vice-president exclaimed, extending her arms out to indicate the crowds. "I can't believe it!"

Holly's smile was infectious and Kitty's matched it. "This is great! There's got to be at least a hundred people here."

"And it doesn't start for a half hour!" Holly hopped down from the stage. "Jean, I can't thank you enough for this."

"Don't thank me, it was Kitty who came up with it," Jean patted Kitty's shoulder.

"Actually, I think it was Rogers and Hammerstein," Kitty grinned.

"Whoever they are, they're a genius," Holly gushed. "Um…ya know…I hope you don't mind that I told Melissa it was my idea. She's not exactly your biggest fan, and I didn't want her to dismiss the idea because it was yours."

Jean nodded. If there was one thing she liked about Holly, it was her honesty. She wasn't going to sugarcoat the facts. "No, it's ok. I get it."

Holly looked up as more students were approaching with baskets. "Oh, I gotta go. Melissa called this morning and told me she was sick, so I've got to log in the baskets, help search them and be auctioneer. I'll see you then!" She grinned at the girls before greeting the new guests with her upbeat welcome.

"I'm glad she's doing the auction," Amara said. "She's so sweet. And Melissa's…"

"A royal pain in the butt?" Tabitha suggested from behind them.

"I was going to say a jerk, but that works too."

Tabitha wrapped an arm around each Kitty and Amara. "My girls! So, you all did baskets too? What'd you make?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Rogue drawled, nodding to the wicker basket Tabby was holding.

"How about we all agree to divulge our secrets after they're bought, k? And we've secured our men." The blond took a quick look around the field. "Not that I'm getting my hopes up with these prospects."

"Oh, there's Scott and the rest of the guys," Jean announced, waving to the other X-men.

Boom Boom rolled her eyes. "My point exactly."

"Tabitha!" Amara gasped.

"Hey, lighten up, Amara. What are you worried about your basket or something?"

The princess shrugged. "I never did much cooking back home. What if it's really bad?"

"Then you suddenly act like it's not your bag, of course," Tabitha blinked, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Amara giggled. "I'm not sure I can do that, but thanks."

About twenty minutes later, Holly got on the stage and started singing the school song. When the booing finally ceased, she laughed. "Well, at least I know I got your attention. Hi! I'm Holly Green, vice president of Bayville High's student council. As your auctioneer today, I'd like to personally welcome all of you to the first annual Bayville High Basket Auction. All proceeds for today go towards funding for this years prom, as well as a few other necessities. This could mean better vending machines on campus, guys, so bid high and keep your fingers crossed!"

The students in the crowd cheered. "Yeah, I know how you feel. So, the rules are pretty simple. I'll take a peak in the basket, list off some of the great stuff we've cooked up, and based on the contents, you bid on it! Easy, right? Please, please, please try to keep this as anonymous as possible. Half the fun is the surprise of who your date is, you lucky boys!

"Now, after I've finally told you that you've won, just come up, give your cash to our treasurer John and our lovely secretary Alyssa will give you your basket. The ladies can either decide to daze you with their brilliance right after you get the basket or after the entire auction. It is up to them!" Holly said with emphasis. "So, everyone get ready and we'll start!"

A few baskets in, Tabitha saw someone out of the corner of her eye. "I'll be right back," she whispered to Amara. The other girl gave her a questioning look, so Tabby nodded to an old friend she had spotted. The brunette looked apprehensive, but Boom Boom just put a finger to her lips to signal silence and snuck through the crowds.

"Her basket wasn't up yet."

"So what if Kitty's basket hasn't been up yet?" Lance asked, looking grumpy. It took him a second to catch his mistake and he groaned and tried to recover. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal."

"Lance, I know how you feel about her," Tabitha smirked.

"We're friends. That's it," He grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You can't fool me. You joined the X-geeks to be with her," she reminded him. "Besides, we lived together. And you talk in your sleep."

"What!" He called wildly, staring at her with a face that continued to pale the more she spoke.

Now, Tabitha didn't exactly know that he talked in his sleep. She'd never been in his room when he was sleeping, after all. But she loved to tease these guys, and Lance was so cute in a funny sort of way when he got choked up about Kitty. Her and his car, but that was just plain good comedy there.

"So…uh…if I wanted to know…did you see her basket?" Lance mumbled.

"Nope, she already turned it in when I got here," Tabitha spotted the other guys in the Brotherhood and nodded a greeting to them as they approached. "Bet I could tell you which one it is though."

Lance was silent, but his body language told her that he wanted her to stay so he didn't make a really stupid mistake.

Holly picked up another basket. "Well, isn't this a cutie! It's got salad, cute little mini cheese pizzas…Oooh, ice cream! Yum!"

"That's hers," Tabitha said.

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

Holly tucked the cover back in. "All wrapped in the most adorable kitty cat blanket!"

Lance blinked. "…Oh."

The bidding began. Lance had a strategy: He would wait until they were waiting a while to bid, then jump in there. But when the bidding got to thirty dollars and he realized he only had twenty-seven, he freaked.

"Guys, give me whatever money you have!" Avalanche demanded of his roommates.

"Feh, why should we?" Pietro demanded.

Lance grabbed him by the shirt collar viciously. "If you want to have a house to sleep in tonight, you'll give me your money!"

Fred reached in his pocket. "I've got five bucks."

"I have seven dollars, twenty-two cents and some lint," Toad offered.

Lance took it, along with Tabitha's contribution. "Nine from yours truly. Treat her nice or I'll make sure you don't have a house to live in, k?" She winked.

The bet was passing fifty, with egos taking over the actual desire for the food. Quicksilver grumbled as everyone else stared at him. "Fine! Here!" He stuffed a twenty dollar bill in Lance's hand.

"Where did you get more than twenty dollars, yo?" Toad asked in awe.

Lance was more focused on the auction. "Sixty-eight dollars and twenty-two cents!"

The audience whispered at the bid but Holly just smiled. "Remember folks, any and all amounts are appreciated. Do we hear seventy? No seventy? Sixty-eight dollars and twenty-two cents going once. Sixty eight dollars and twenty-two cents going twice." She paused, banged her gavel against the podium. "Sold for sixty eight dollars and twenty-two cents to the guy in the ripped jeans!"

Tabitha laughed to herself as Lance walked over with the money that used to be hers. "I'll see you guys later. Ciao!" The blond smiled at her accomplishment and good deed of the day.

Amara was only standing with Jean and Rogue now, as Kitty had gone up to meet her date. "She's ecstatic!" Magma whispered. "Did you have something to do with that?"

"Me? You mean, besides the fact that I told him which basket was hers and that nine bucks worth of that lunch is mine? Nope, nothing at all."

Lance stood a little taller as he saw Kitty making her way through the crowds (but not literally right through them…she walked around the people, not into them). "Uh…nice basket."

She grinned. "Like, how'd you know it was mine?"

"The blanket. Not many people would get one with cats on it."

Kitty blushed. "I thought it was cute."

"Oh, it is, it is!" Lance quickly corrected himself. "I mean…it's…it's very cute…"

This just made Kitty blush harder. "There's like, a bench over there. You wanna sit down?"

"Sure!" He sounded like an eager puppy as he walked her over.

Tabitha giggled. "Well, aren't Romeo and Juliet over there as sweet as a cavity?" Rogue didn't say anything, but Amara nodded and Jean frowned. "Something wrong?"

"Its just Scott. He doesn't exactly share your sentiments." She frowned, putting a hand to her temple as if to try and organize the thoughts flooding through her head.

Listen; stop worrying about it, Scott. She told him telepathically He won fair and square and Kitty's happy about it. I think you have other stuff to think about. My basket's after this one. While some would consider this cheating, Jean deemed this as a public service. If someone else got her basket, they would probably be pretty horrified to find that a mutant made it. It would ruin the entire fundraiser. The fact that this ensured her a date with Scott was just a bonus.

His mind changed paths immediately. Scott wanted this date with Jean. He had money saved up, but winning was an important factor in an auction. Having the cash just helped after the first step.

"It seemed we've got an All-American basket, here!" Holly was saying into the microphone. "We've got a bunch of stuff here, including some fried chicken…and is that a whole homemade apple pie? It smells great from here. Let's start the bidding at eight, shall we?"

Eventually, Scott won with a final bid of thirty-three dollars. Jean sighed a heavy sigh of relief as he went to go get it. A few football players had been trying for it, including Duncan. And if Mr. Macho himself would have won it, he probably would have been as sad and disgusted you could be without being clinically depressed.

"Looks like it's just us three," Amara said as Jean went to go wrangle her guy.

"Actually…" Rogue spotted a very sad boy sitting on the grass with his head in his hands. "Just you two. I have to go see someone." She sat next to the miserable young man. "What's up? Ya look like you just lost your best friend."

Kurt shook his head. "Not my best friend. My girlfriend."

"You and Amanda break up or something?" Rogue asked protectively, searching the crowd for her.

"No, no, we're still together. I guess."

Rogue focused on the spot Kurt was staring at. "So what's the problem? Don't have enough money to get her basket?"

"That's not it. Well. Not all of it, at least. Her parents are here, and they don't want me seeing her anymore." The usually optimistic blue dude was bordering the edge of pessimistic into desperate.

"So? I mean, it is supposed to be an anonymous auction. They can't say anything about it if you bid on it and happen to win. Here," she pulled all the money she had out of her pocket and gave it to him. "Think of it as an attempt to repay about a dozen years worth of missed birthday presents."

He hugged her carefully. "Thank you, Rogue."

"Next up, is this basket," Holly peeked inside and grinned. "This one's tricky! It seems the chef wrapped everything in blue plastic wrap and Tupperware containers. A very good ruse, I must say." Holly sniffed the air above the basket. "Smells like burgers to me. And what's this?" She pulled a small blue plush out of the basket. "It looks like a blue…spider monkey? Whatever it is, it's cute! We'll start the bidding at five dollars."

"That's your cue," Rogue smiled.

Kurt nodded and approached the stand so that Holly could see him. That auction didn't last that long; no one really wanted to bid on anything when they weren't sure what it was, no matter how much it smelt like burgers.

Before Kurt could even take the basket from Alyssa, Amanda was right by his side, hugging his arm. "I was hoping you'd come," she beamed. "I thought that would be a nice clue that it was mine. Blue is my favorite color, after all."

Nightcrawler took the basket and squeezed her hand. "I remember, Liebchen."

The two lovebirds were walking away when they were met with a scary force: Mr. and Mrs. Sefton. And then were mad. "Amanda, I thought we told you you couldn't see this boy anymore," Her father said firmly.

"But, Dad…"

"We all agreed," Her mother began before she was cut off.

"No, you two agreed! Mom, Dad, I like Kurt. He's sweet and gentle and kind," Amanda squeezed his hand. "And even if I didn't like him, he still won my basket and by the rules of the auction I owe him a date."

Mr. Sefton was about to say something when his wife cut in. "We'll talk about this at home, Amanda. Be back by curfew."

As the two walked away, the teenagers sighed in relief. "I don't want you to get in trouble when you get home, Amanda."

"Don't worry about it. You won, so they can't do anything about it." She hugged her fuzzy blue boy and he returned it. "Let's go see the others, k?"

"Sure, Liebchen," He held her hand in one of his, and her basket in the other and went to stand by Rogue, Tabby and Amara.

"Hey, Amanda!" Tabitha said with a wink. "Nice going with the basket."

"Can we see the doll?" Amara asked.

Kurt pulled it out, chuckling at it, then gave it to Amara who squealed lightly. "This is the cutest thing! Kurt in his uniform. It's even fuzzy like him. Did you make this?"

Amanda nodded. "Yeah, a few years ago I took a sewing class, so we learned to make stuffed animals. I'd actually like to keep this one if you don't mind, Kurt. I kind of sleep with it at night…" She took it back from Amara, blushing.

Kurt nodded, which made Tabitha grin. "Hey, why don't you make him a little Amanda doll for him to sleep with?"

Kurt's mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out, but his girlfriend loved the idea. "I could do that. I mean. If you want, Kurt."

He just nodded, not sure what else to say to such a question. Luckily, Amara pointed to the stage. "Look! It's my basket!"

It was. Holly was looking in it, "ooh"ing and "ahhh"ing to entice the crowd. "Well, it looks like this baker has a sweet tooth here! We've got a variety of cookies, cakes, brownies, and cupcakes in this huge basket! So lets start the bidding at ten dollars!"

Amara bit her bottom lip. "Ten dollars? Oh, I hope the bidding doesn't get too high. I didn't do much cooking back in Nova Roma, I don't want someone to get disappointed."

"Hey, Storm helped, I'm sure it'll be great," Rogue said.

"I hope you're right…" Amara paid close attention to the bidding, wincing whenever someone went higher.

"Was there someone special you wanted to win yours?" Tabitha wondered.

"No, not really. I just did it for fun." The numbers were approaching the seventies, because, apparently, Bayville's men had a lot of money and a very sweet tooth.

Amara thought it had finally settled on seventy-three when someone called out, "One hundred and eighteen dollars!" She clutched on to Tabitha, whose eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Who would pay that much for you?" The blond squeaked. "No offense."

"None taken…" Amara whispered. She couldn't think of anyone who'd pay that much for her. Maybe back home, but she was a princess there. Here she was just Amara. Magma. But for some reason, a person thought she was worth almost a hundred and twenty dollars.

"Wow." Holly said from the pedestal. "Uh. Ok. One hundred eighteen dollars going once. Going twice. Sold for a hundred and eighteen dollars to a rich guy who I'd love to give my number to."

Everyone laughed, but was looking around to whoever would pay that much. He finally approached the stand and even Holly raised her eyes, impressed. Kurt blinked in disbelief. "Is that Bobby?"

The girls around him nodded. "I'll be back in a second…" Amara said, walking towards the front where Bobby was paying. "Uh, hey, Bobby."

"Oh, hey, there you are. Nice basket," He grinned.

"Thanks. But…Why'd you get it?"

"I like sweets and there's no one else I wanted. C'mon." He led her back through the crowd, where Ray, Sam and Jamie were waiting. "I found her, guys."

They all greeted her, but Amara was confused. "What's going on?"

"Well, Jamie saw your basket the other day when you were making it," Sam started.

Jamie grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"He told us about it, and we all wanted to bid on it. So Bobby came up with the idea that we pool our money together, so it can be sort of a new mutant picnic and we were assured to win," Ray finished.

"Oh. Well, that makes sense," Amara sighed in relief. She wasn't sure how she felt about Bobby having a crush on her, and now she didn't have to figure it out. "Where's Roberto?"

"He said he had some things to do, but he would meet us here. He never showed." Bobby said.

"That's not true," Jamie piped up. "He's right over there!"

So he was. Roberto was running over to the group, panting and out of breath. "I'm sorry I'm late. Did I miss it?"

"Uh huh," Bobby told him. "We already won it."

The Brazilian frowned. "Does this mean I don't get part?"

He was interrupted by Holly's loud voice over the microphone. "Well, let's get on with it, shall we?" She picked up a basket and almost dropped it. "Wow. That's heavy. Wasn't expecting that." She managed to get it up on the podium. "Interesting selection we have here. A whole lot of Slim Jims, Pop Tars, and two twenty-four packs of Coke! We'll start the bidding at four dollars."

"How much you wanna bet that's Tabby's basket?" Jamie asked.

They all laughed, but it gave Amara an idea. "How about Roberto uses his share of the money to bid on Tabitha's basket, so we can make this a real new recruits party?"

"It really isn't a party without Tabitha," Sam agreed.

Roberto nodded and held up his money. "Fifteen dollars!" A few seconds later, Holly announced he'd won, she he ran up to get it.

The rest of them went over to where Rogue, Kurt, Amanda and Tabitha were standing. "Whoa. Someone actually bid on my basket?"

"It was Roberto," Amara told her friend.

"Old Sunspot, huh?" Tabitha raised an eyebrow. "Interesting." Then she noticed Bobby holding Amara's basket. "So you're the one who has the giant crush on Amara!"

"What? Oh, it was a group thing," He nodded to the other guys.

"You all like her? Lucky Amara! Not that I can blame you guys, she's great," Tabitha put her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders to emphasize this.

The guys just rolled their eyes and didn't say anything. They'd learned that with Tabitha, sometimes it was best to just let her think what she wanted to think. "So, I guess that means I'm the only one left," Rogue put in to get them off the topic.

"Oh, we'll wait for you," Amara offered. "If you and your guy want, you can join us in a big picnic."

"Thanks. I guess we'll have to see." Her basket was going to be in the next three, and she was nervous. She didn't want it to be some massive jock with a smaller IQ than Kitty's stuffed Lockheed. Especially if he wanted to touch her. Though, if it were one of Duncan's idiot friends, she might not mind.

Finally, Holly pick up her basket and took a peek inside. "Well, since I've never been past New Jersey, I'm no expert on Southern food, but this smells spicy! Maybe it's gumbo or something? Sorry to whoever made this, but I'm really not sure. It smells good and hot though, so guys who like a little spice in their life, come and get it!"

Rogue's was one of the last baskets, so there weren't that many people left who hadn't purchased baskets. Luckily, the first few guys weren't so bad. Then, someone called out a bid of forty dollars. Rogue knew that voice.

"That was a weird accent," Amanda frowned. "I don't recognize it from around here."

"It's from down south," Rogue informed them. "From Louisiana."

She peered through the crowds. As tall as he was, he usually wasn't hard to spot. There. He was in the back, smiling arrogantly, as he tended to do. He had the money encased in his palm. So when Holly announced him as the winner, he strode up to the platform to claim his prize.

"That's Gambit!" Kurt said in shock, looking at his sister to see her reaction.

Rogue attempted to keep her face as emotionless as possible. Her heart was troubled. Why exactly had Gambit chosen her basket? He could have wanted a taste of home, she guessed. It made sense, living as far away as he did. But she knew he was much trickier than that.

How had he heard about the auction? Last time she checked, he wasn't a student at Bayville High. Lance could have told him. Gambit could have guessed she would have made a basket, and confirmed it by the fact that she was there. He was smart enough to figure out which one was hers. But why he would want to get it was a completely different story.

She walked away from the comfort zone of her group to meet him halfway. "Hello," was all she ventured to say.

"Good day, Chèrie," He greeted her with a nod of his head.

Tabitha was counting heads. "Hey, all of our gang is finished!" Spur of the moment, she waved everyone over. Once they got back to the group, she grinned mischievously. "How about we blow these guys, go over to the other side of the park and have a party of our own?"

The group of fifteen cheered and started piling into the cars and vans. Now the fun would start.


A/N: I know I said this was going to be the last chapter, but this whole thing got away from me. I didn't realize just how long it was going to get. This is the longest chapter I've ever written, at over 4,000 words. Actually, this chapter was more of setting up the next chapter, which will have the party and all the waff. Gotta love the waff. So, I hope you stay tuned for the next chapter!

Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated


Review Responses:

Emi: Of course we love the fuzzy dude! We love anyone that's fuzzy! Like my new Lance the polar bear and Bobby the dolphin plushies!

LilyEvansPotter4456: Thank you so much! I'll update as soon as possible!

SickmindedSucker: It really would be a good idea for a fundraiser. And if I cared about my school, I would probably give them the idea. I'm happy you like the first chapter!

DOJ: I would never leave you hanging, especially not with one chapter left to go. I can't wait to write the auction (I'm writing this before I did the chapter). I'm sure it'll be tons of fun so I hope you love it!

Nuke: Yeah, the food talk made me hungry while I was writing it. I just made Rouge cook Cajun because she's from Louisiana, and I couldn't think of anything else she'd like to make and couldn't stand to leave her out.

XME: Thanks!

Ashnan: Actually, I watched Gilmore Girls recently and they did the basket auction. I do love Oklahoma! though, and I would watch it if I had it. I hope you like the auction.

Agent-G: Kitty's cooking is almost as bad as mine. The only difference is, someone might actually be willing to buy hers and then eat it…

Half-n-Half: I'm so glad! I hope this chapter was even cuter, it's supposed to have all the waff in it!

Silent Doom: I haven't seen it in years either, but when your friend is in the play and you memorize all the songs with them, it's hard to get it out of your head, even a few years later. Thank you for all your compliments, you're so nice!

LavenderRumiro: I love to hear that you're hooked! Hopefully you'll be hooked on this one too! Btw, I love your name.

gredforgelvr: I'm glad that you like the idea. I hope you keep reading!

Riderazzo: I am so obsessed with Lancitty. That's all I seem to be writing. But there will definitely be some Romy in the next chapter too!